Ayla Gafni

Dr. Ayla Gafni is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the University of Mississippi's Department of Mathematics, part of the College of Liberal Arts. Her expertise lies in Analytic Number Theory, Harmonic Analysis, and Combinatorics, with a focus on intersections between number theory and harmonic analysis, the Hardy-Littlewood circle method, and Diophantine approximation. She earned her Ph.D. in Mathematics from Pennsylvania State University in 2016 under Robert C. Vaughan, followed by postdoctoral roles at the University of Rochester and MSRI. Since joining the University of Mississippi faculty in 2019, she has been recognized with the 2020 ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award. Her research spans global collaborations and presentations at leading institutions like Oberwolfach, the Fields Institute, and the Hausdorff Institute of Mathematics.

Dr. Gafni’s work bridges pure mathematics disciplines, with recent publications addressing number field bounds, geometric incidence theory, and partition functions. She actively engages in academic service, teaching courses such as Complex Analysis and Linear Algebra. Her research portfolio reflects a commitment to advancing analytic techniques in number theory through interdisciplinary approaches.

• Education:
  • Ph.D. in Mathematics, Pennsylvania State University (2016)
• Awards:
  • ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award (2020)
• Teaching:
  • Math 263: Unified Calculus & Analytic Geometry III
  • Math 319: Introduction to Linear Algebra
  • Math 459: Introduction to Complex Analysis